Taking a break

I think I am going to take a little break from blogging. I think I need to just focus on me and try to figure out how to stay back on track. I have been feeling guilty about not blogging much lately and that isn't helping me. I have been doing well for a couple days and then doing poorly for a couple days, I need to concentrate on trying to do better. I'm not sure how long I will stay away but I will hopefully get things figured out and be back soon. Good luck to you all!

Weigh in

I forgot to weigh in Saturday so I weighed in Sunday. 226.8, which is a .8 pound loss. This is actually pretty good since Friday and Saturday I didn't eat well and Saturday night was spent drinking. I spent most of the day Sunday in bed recovering.

Other than that, I don't have much to blog about right now so this will be short and to the point.

Off to a pretty good start!

Sunday went really well! I ended up getting called off work, which can be hard for me diet wise because I tend to do worse when I am not working. I counted my points all day and used 4 of my weekly points. I also got in some exercise. I ran 1.05 miles (15 minutes at 4mph) and walked 15 minutes at 2.8mph. The only thing I didn't do so great on was my water intake.

Today so far I have done some arm exercises with free weights (5 pounds) while catching up on The Biggest Loser. I used to love this show but I am not really feeling it this year so far. The new trainer for the red team is very good looking though so I will stick around for him, lol. I am hoping to get some cardio in before work tonight.  I also have my meals planned out for the day and will have one point left to use by the end of the day.

Now I just need to keep this up!

Starting a new week!

Hello fellow bloggers! Its the start of a new week for me and I know its going to be a good one. I finished up the week pretty good last week, I stayed on plan Tues-Thurs. Fri and Sat I didn't count points due to being out of town and unable to accurately keep track. Friday I still ate pretty well, and Saturday I took as a free day. This week Saturday will be a free day as well, I am going out drinking with friends to celebrate some birthdays :)

One thing I did slack on was exercise. The day I ran/walked last week was my only workout. I was sore for a few days after that and then the past two days I have been too busy. I am getting ready to go to bed so I can work tonight, but I set my alarm early so I can get in a workout before work. I also have my meals planned for the week.

I am also working on increasing my water intake again. I have been drinking diet soda more often than I used to so that is something I need to stop. I have been taking my water bottle to work and I bought some Propel Zero instead of diet soda.

I'm really looking forward to having a better week!

Lazy Bones

I've realized that lately I have become just plain lazy. Yes, I have been sick off and on for the past month and a half, but there have been days where I have felt fine and I still didn't exercise. I am not sure why this is, I really do like exercising. Apparently I like sitting on my ass more. I've also been lazy with my diet. I haven't felt like cooking much so I've been doing a lot of snacking and I've only been counting points two or three days a week.

Yesterday I decided to get back on track once again. I weighed myself for a starting off point, weighing in at 227.6, which is around a 3 pound gain from where I left off. I counted points and ate exactly my allotted amount. I have my meals planned out for the rest of the week except Saturday, which will be a free day since we will be out of town for a birthday.

As far as workouts, I think I will alternate running with my Banish Fat Boost Metabolism dvd. Today I did running/walking intervals. I walked at 2.8pmh and ran at 4.1mph. These are the intervals I did: walk 2min, run 10 min, walk 7 min, run 5 min, walk 5 min, run 6 min, walk 25 min; total workout time of 1 hour. I ran 1.5 miles and walked 1.9 miles.

No more lazy bones!!

Starting to feel better

I've been doing pretty good this week. I am still a little sick so I haven't been able to exercise since I can't breathe and have been coughing up crap. But I have done well with my diet. I counted points 5 days last week and so far have counted points every day this week. I have used some of my weekly points, and will probably use the rest this weekend when my husband and I have date night.

I will weigh in tomorrow. I am not expecting much since I had a good loss last week but we shall see!

Weigh in

Just a really quick update because I have an awful cold and am basically down for the count. My weigh in today was 224.6, which is a 3.2 pound loss for the week. I guess the only good thing about being sick is I have little appetite and nothing tastes good. Hope everyone is doing well! I will try to catch up on all your blogs once I rejoin the land of the living.

The month of September hates me

I don't know what it is, but September and I don't seem to get along. I don't remember specifics for last year, but know I was sick because I remember my mom mentioning it. The year before was the month prior to our wedding and within 2 1/2 weeks I had swine flu, pink eye, and bronchitis. This year I have had the stomach flu (though that was really the end of August), a headache pretty much every single day, and now I am pretty sure I am getting a cold or the flu. FML.

I did run a mile Thursday, the one day this month I have felt okay. My weight Friday was down to 227.8, which is a 1.4 pound loss for the week.

Still alive...

Don't worry, I'm still here. I have had a massive headache the past 3 days so I haven't done much besides lay in bed. Which means no exercise for me, but I have been sticking to my diet. I finally gave in and took half a vicodin and that usually gets rid of the stubborn headaches so hopefully I will be able to feel normal again later today. I will also try to catch up on all of your blogs once I feel better!

So far off the wagon I can't even see it anymore

As you know, I was sick a couple weeks ago. Well, once I felt better my hunger returned with a vengeance and I fell off the wagon in a hard way. I haven't exercised or counted points since before I got sick. My weight today is 229.2, which is a 4.4 pound gain since I weighed in last Friday (granted that weigh in was immediately post-stomach flu so it probably wasn't my real weight either).

Today is pretty much shot, but I am working on my plan for this week. I am going to plan out every piece of food I will eat for the week and schedule my workouts as well. I also need to work on figuring out why I am doing this to myself. I am not sure the best way to go about doing that, but I am going to start writing down what I am feeling when I eat as a start. Hopefully I will make some progress!

Wish me luck getting back on track this week!

Sick

I've had some sort of stomach virus most of the week so that's why I have been MIA. I didn't count points or exercise the majority of the week. My weight Friday was 224.8, which is a 1.4 pound loss. I am sure this is only due to being sick so I won't be surprised if its back up next week but for now I will take it. I am finally starting to feel better and be able to eat normally again so its back to the diet this week.

Crossed something off my 30 by 30 list!

I forgot to mention that I got to cross something off of my 30 by 30 list. Its one of the smaller things, but its nice to mark something as done. Before we went on vacation I got my first pedicure ever. I enjoyed it and it looked great. I probably won't get them done all the time but for special circumstances its nice. (don't mind the bad picture, it was taken at the airport waiting for our flight)

Happy toes!

Weigh in

Weigh in for this week: 226.2, for a loss of 1.2 pounds this week.

Today has been a bad day diet wise, I haven't been counting points and I have been mindlessly snacking. My husband is out of town and I've been just lounging around snacking today. I also need to get groceries so I have no good food in the house. I got called off my first 4 hours of work tonight so I am hoping to at least work out before I go in later.

Ran a mile

Today for my workout I ran a mile at 4.0 mph, so a total of 15 minutes. I also did a 5 minute walking warmup and 5 minute walking cool down. Total distance of 1.5 miles. I am glad I am still able to run this far but I wish I was still running 30 minutes. Running is definitely something I need to not slack on. I lose so much progress when I take time off. I probably could have gone longer but I was starting to struggle so I stopped. However, 4mph is faster than I usually run while running long distances.

I've stuck to counting my points the past few days, for a total of 4 days this week. My goal for next week will be to track for 5 days. I weigh in tomorrow, the scale is down today so hopefully it stays that way for tomorrow.

Hope everyone has a great weekend! I will be working :(

Back to working out

Yesterday before work I decided to get a workout in. Its been a couple weeks since I have exercised so I took it easy and did 21 minutes of Banish Fat Boost Metabolism. Today as long as I sleep well I plan on getting up early and working out before work again tonight. I'm not sure yet if I will run or do a DVD.

I ended up having 10 points left yesterday because I spent most of the day (finally) getting some sleep. As long as I stay on plan today I will hit my exact points number.

Sorry for the short post, I need to get to bed so I can work again tonight.

Dusting off the old tape measure

I just realized its been almost 2 months since I updated my measurements so I took some tonight. I am happy to see losses in almost every area. I do wish they were bigger numbers but I am happy to be making progress regardless. I thought the loss in my stomach would be bigger though, since when I did a sneak peak last month I was down more in that area. The numbers in parenthesis are the amount I have lost since 6/24/11.

Measurement 8/17/11                                     

Neck                   14 1/4 (-1/2)                                   
Left Arm            15 1/2 (-1/2)                          
Right Arm          15 3/4 (-1/4)                         
Bust                    43 1/2 (-1)                               
Waist                  35 (-3/4)                         
Stomach             45 1/2 (-1)                                
Hips                   50 1/2 (-1/4)                                 
Left Thigh          29 3/4                                 
Right Thigh        29 1/2 (-1/4)                                
Left Calf            17 (-1/4)                                     
Right Calf          17 (-1/4)                                   
Weight: 227.2    

Lame confession :)

I know I haven't been around in a few days and my reason is pretty lame: I discovered the TV show Glee this weekend and am now obsessed.  I downloaded all the episodes on my computer and have been watching them whenever I have free time. One bad thing about working nights is I always miss out on new shows and don't get around to them until they've been out for a while. Any of you guys fellow Glee followers?

Unfortunately, since I've been so lame I have been watching TV rather than exercising. I guess that means I need to go out and buy the dvds so I can watch while running :) I did go to the state fair on Monday did about 4 hours of walking, so I guess that is something. Although I did have a red velvet funnel cake (well, 1/3 of one, I shared with my parents) which probably cancelled that out a bit.

While we were at the fair we saw Rebecca Meyer from Biggest Loser season 8. We didn't stop to talk to her because there were tons of people there and we didn't have a lot of time. Unfortunately, she looks like she has gained a good chunk of weight back. She is still smaller than she started out though and looked good.

I've also been suffering from some insomnia lately. Currently I have been up for 26 hours and no sign of sleep in sight. I'm really hoping this isn't going to have a negative impact on my weigh in this week but I'm sure it will. I always have bad weigh ins when I am not sleeping well. I am back to work tomorrow night after being off 6 nights so hopefully that will get me back to my normal sleeping schedule. For now I am going to at least see if I can get a nap in today, wish me luck!

Vegas!

(I removed the photos because I don't like having my photos out there for everyone to see. I figure anyone who wanted to see them has by now anyway :) )

As you all know, my husband and I went to Vegas last week. We had an absolute blast! I decided not to diet while we were there and just enjoy myself. We really only ate twice a day since we had such big meals. Plus, in Vegas you walk A LOT so we got some exercise in.

Our hotel was amazing. We stayed at the Cosmopolitan which is a new hotel that just opened in December. We tipped at the front desk and got upgraded from a studio room to a one bedroom suite with a view of the Bellagio fountains from our balcony, it was amazing! The hotel was awesome, there is a bar made completely made up of a chandelier and its 3 stories of the hotel. The restaurants we are at there were great, I wish we would have had time to try more of them!

We ate at several buffets, the one in the Paris hotel, the one in our hotel, and the one in the Bellagio hotel. The Bellagio was the best, we went there twice. The buffet in our hotel was really good too. We hated the buffet in the Paris hotel, which was really too bad because we had heard great reviews about it.

 We stopped at Serendipity 3 and got one of their famous frozen hot chocolates. So yummy, and worth every calorie!

Frozen hot chocolate

 We went to see two shows while we were there. The first was Phantom of the Opera. I confess, I am a nut about this show and I love the movie and soundtrack. My husband has never seen it, because he thought it would be girly (though he does like musicals, go figure!). It was absolutely amazing! I was blown away. I already wish I could see it again. We sat in the third row so we had great seats. Amazing! The show was at the Venetian so while we were there we went to the wax museum and had a gondola ride as well.

The next day we went to see O, which is a Cirque du Soleil show. Neither of us had ever been to one so we didn't really know what to expect. We loved it! I wasn't sure which one we should go to but I am glad we picked O because I really loved the water parts. We were in the third row for this show as well, so we got hit with a few drops of water :) Some of the show was behind us so that was the only bad thing about being so close. Otherwise we loved it and our seats were great. While we were at the Bellagio we also went to check out the Conservatory and the chocolate fountain.

Our last day we rented a convertible and went hiking at Red Rock Canyon. It was a blast, but very hot that day! It was so beautiful out there and I nice contrast to the city. Very relaxing.  Then we stopped at the Las Vegas sign to get some pictures.

Weigh in

I am extremely happy to post today's weigh in. I wasn't expecting it to be that great, I used all my weekly points since I came back from vacation and yesterday I took a free day. I also haven't exercised since I came back from vacation. So when I stepped on the scale today I was pleasantly surprised. My weight is 227.4! That is a 5.6 pound loss since Tuesday! I am going to assume a good chunk of that is water weight from vacation, but I am still happy with it. Not only have I lost all my vacation weight, but this is my lowest weight since I began this journey!

I am downloading photos from my vacation right now, so expect an update later today!

Taking it easy

Just another quick update while I am waiting for supper to get ready. I promise I have vacation photos to share later when I have more time!

These past few days I have been taking it easy, easing back into dieting. I've been having a hard time adjusting to working night shift after my vacation and eating whatever I want so I am counting points but not exercising this week. I will start my week over either on Friday or Saturday and resume exercising. I also have been eating a little over my points each day, using up some of my weekly points even though technically I shouldn't have any since the beginning of the week I was on vacation. I started counting points on Tuesday and have used up 26 of my 35 weekly points so far. I don't have my meals planned yet for tomorrow because I need to go shopping, but I am sure I will use up the rest of my weekly points. I will also weigh in again at the end of the week to get back on my usually weigh in day.

Now I am off the finish getting ready for work, only one more night and then I get 6 nights off again! Our State Fair is this week and next so I might have to make one day a free day so I can indulge on some deep fried stuff on a stick, lol.

Post vacation weigh in

I'm back! We had a blast on our vacation. I will update more later but I will be working a lot the next few days so I won't be able to be on much. I just wanted to update with my weight today since we are back. I weighed 233.0, which is a 1.6 pound gain since my last weigh in before we left. Obviously I never want to see a gain but I don't think this was too bad for a week of vacation. I am actually pretty happy with that. Of course, since I had gained back a few pounds before we left I do have a few pounds (just over 4) to lose to get back to my lowest weight. Time to get back into the swing of things!

Farewell for now!

This is my last post until after I get home from vacation! We are leaving tomorrow. I might check in while we are gone but probably not, we will be too busy having a blast! :) I will try to post some pictures when we get back. I hope everyone has a great week!!

Friday weigh in

Just another quick update for now with my Friday weigh in: 231.4 :( I am on vacation mode already and slacking on diet and exercise for the past week. I'm not going to worry about it too much, I know on vacation I won't be getting much exercise and I plan on indulging in good food and drinks, so I will have to assess the damage when I return and move on from there! Now I need to go nap before work tonight. One last night before vacation! I hope everyone has a great week!

I'm still here!

Sorry I've been missing the past few days. I worked my 3 12 hour shifts in a row and I have been drained! Only one more night of work tomorrow and then vacation! I will try to make a real post later and respond to comments, right now I am trying to get caught up on all my blogs I follow! :)

30 By 30

I have 3 years left until I am 30 so I decided to make my list of things I would like to accomplish before then. Here is my 30 by 30! (I started this list a long time ago and finally finished it. Maybe finishing my list should have been on my list! lol)

1- Lose 85 pounds total (~53 lbs to go)
2- Run a 5k (3.1 miles, currently can run 2 miles)
3- Have a baby (IVF hopefully the beginning of 2012!)
4- Buy an SUV
5- Pay off all credit card debt (plan to really start focusing on this after our vacation)
6- Join a church and attend regularly
7- Resume playing the piano (my parents brought my piano to my house and I play once in a while now)
8- Join a gym
9- Ride in a hot air balloon
10- Organize all photos into scrapbooks or albums
11- Make banana bread and actually have it turn out
12- Plant a tree
13- Ride a horse
14- Go to a drive thru and pay for the car behind me
15- (Re)Learn Spanish
16- Do 10 "real" push ups (currently can do 1, its a start!)
17- Give up soda (I will only have one on rare occasions, and its always diet)
18- Find a wine I love
19- Learn how to fully use my DSLR camera and take better photos (I've learned a few tricks, but much more left to learn!)
20- Take a dance class
21- Go skiing
22- Get a pedicure (planning on doing this for the first time before our vacation next week!)
23- Get Lasik eye surgery
24- Learn basic cake decoration
25- Travel out of the United States (probably the most unrealistic of my goals but I am still hoping!)
26- Get my wisdom teeth out
27- Donate blood again
28- Paint our master bathroom
29- Read the entire Harry Potter series
30- Get a Brazilian wax

I know some of these are silly but hopefully they are all realistic!

Remember...

Remember how I said Level 3 of the 30 Day Shred wasn't very hard for the most part? Well, my legs are finally feeling better after being incredibly sore the past few days since I did it Monday morning. I didn't really feel sore after Levels 1 and 2 at all. Level 3 must be better of a workout than I give it credit for!

Even so, I will be glad to be done with it! I am thinking of getting Jillian's Ripped in 30 next, and will start that after our vacation next week. I think I will continue the 30 Day Shred until we leave in a week.

No motivation

The past couple days I have been in a funk! I don't want to exercise and I want to eat everything in sight. I've also been super crabby. Maybe I am PMSing.

Monday I did Level 3 of the 30 Day Shred again but I didn't count my points. Tuesday I didn't have time to exercise because I was out and about all day and I was unable to count points (but I knew ahead of time that I wouldn't be). Today I have counted points (although I will probably go over into my extra points) but haven't exercised yet. I know I need to, so hopefully I can get my lazy ass off the couch and actually do it. I need to do C25K since I haven't done it several days. I don't want to lose my progress!

I should have no problem counting points and staying on track with my diet the rest of the week since I go back to work tomorrow night. When I work I don't do much besides eat and sleep so I have little time to overeat. Since I am working Saturday which is usually my "free" day I will still count points that day and hopefully still meet my goal of tracking for 5 days this week.

I am nervous about weighing in this week. If I see a loss or even stay the same I will be shocked. I am fully anticipating a gain this week and that sucks. I need to get out of this funk!

What do you guys do to get your motivation back or get out of a funk?

Measurements

I decided to take a sneak peak at my measurements today. Unfortunately, they are not what I had hoped. Most areas are either the same or only down 1/4 inch. My thighs were even 1/4 inch bigger! The only place with any noticeable difference was may stomach, which is down 3 inches! I'll take that! I am going to hope that part of this lack of results is because I just worked out and am "puffy" lol. We will see what my official results are for the month next week.

Not sure how I feel about Level 3!

I started Level 3 of the 30 Day Shred today. I am not sure I like it. Some of the moves seem incredibly easy, especially the moves in the second circuit. However, some moves seem impossible for my body to even do, such as the rockstar jumps and the jumping lunges. I also still need to modify any plank moves. I will stick it out until the end of the month but right now I am missing Levels 1 and 2!

I just finished so I am going to take a small break and then do C25K. I think I am just going to move on to week 9 since I have already been running 30 minutes a few times already. This way I will be finished on Thursday with the whole program. I am not sure exactly what I will do when I am done. I still want to keep up the running and I still am not up to a 5k (at 30 minutes that is just over 2 miles for me and a 5k is 3.1 miles, so probably around 45 minutes for me at my current level). I think I will slowly add on a few minutes until I reach 45 minutes, and then I will start to work on increasing my speed. Once I am able to run 45 minutes without stopping I am hoping to sign up for a 5k somewhere.

EDIT: I was only able to run 23 minutes before I had to stop, which was 1.5 miles. I wanted to stop after 10 minutes so I am glad I pushed that long. I definitely need to not do both workouts so close together. My calves were killing me and my bra was really irritating my sunburn. Total distance with the warm up and cool down walks was 2 miles. 

I didn't exercise yesterday because my sunburn was still really sore. It hurts to wear a bra, lol! My chest is still pretty sunburned but now my arms and face are just tanned. I plan to go out to the pool tomorrow with my friend again, so I need to make sure to use plenty of sunscreen and reapply like crazy! After tomorrow I won't get much sun until we go to Vegas, and hopefully by then I will be tan enough not to burn like crazy while we are there.

I stayed within my points today, even ended up having 3 points left for the day. Saturday I didn't count points. My goal is to count points at least 5 days this week. Tuesday I will be out of town with my parents so I probably won't be able to count points then.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Sunburn!

I didn't exercise yesterday because I got a pretty good sunburn while at the pool. It still hurts today but I am hoping by tonight I will feel up to working out. Its still pretty warm to the touch.

I forgot to weigh in before I ate yesterday, so I am going with the weight I was at Thursday night after my workout: 228.2. This is the same as last week, so no weight lost this week. I am bummed but I know I didn't do my best this week.

I ran 2 miles!

I did C25K Week 8 Day 2 tonight, and decided to keep going until I hit 2 miles. I ran at 3.9 mph and hit 2 miles in 29:30. I decided to just run 30 minutes total.

I didn't do the 30 day shred today, I think I am getting bored with it. Tomorrow I might try Level 3 just to do something new.

Today I had my nephew's birthday party so we ate out and I was unable to count points. I have my meals planned out for tomorrow though so I can try to keep on track for the rest of the week.

I bought another dress for Vegas today, and its an XL from a normal sized store! :) Hopefully soon I won't even be able to shop in the Plus sized stores.

Confession

I didn't exercise or count points yesterday. For no other reason than I was being lazy. I did so well from Sunday through Tuesday and then I gave up again yesterday. Dang it!!

Quick update

I am getting ready for work but just wanted to update quickly. Today I did 30 Day Shred Level 2 again. I am still struggling with the plank cardio. I think I will just finish out my 10 days at this level and move on, even if I am still modifying the moves. I've also kept on track with drinking my water and counting my points. I even have 2 points left to spare today.

Work has been so stressful and I had a mini meltdown this afternoon. I cannot wait for our vacation, I need it. I am getting so burnt out. Only a little over 2 weeks left!!

C25K Week 8

I started week 8 of C25K today. This week is 28 minutes of running. Considering I ran 30 minutes a couple days ago I figured it would be easy. I struggled with the last 8 minutes though, but I still made it. I ran at 3.8 which is just slightly faster than my last run, and it was pretty hot in our house so I was sweating buckets. I think those two things are part of what made it more difficult. I ran 1.87 miles. I am hoping by the end of the week I can hit the 2 mile mark!

Friday and Saturday I didn't eat well. The weekends are always bad for me. Today, however, I am under my points by a lot. I have 15 points left for the day after I eat supper and I am going to work so I won't be eating again tonight. I only eat two meals at most my first night back to work and usually I make supper a bigger meal that day but tonight I didn't for some reason. I guess it will help make up for the weekend. I will be drinking at least 64 oz of water by the end of the day too.

I work the next 3 nights and then have an 8 night stretch off. I think my goal will be to work on my mindless eating out of boredom during that time. Its easy to stick to the plan when I work because I don't have time to overeat. My days off are where I struggle. I am sick of having to get back on track every week and make up for doing poorly. Wish me luck!!

Am I a runner?

Last night I was doing C25K again, week 7 day 3 which is 25 minutes of running. I ran about the same as last time, 3.7/3.8mph. It was much easier this time and when I got done I didn't want to stop. So I didn't. I kept going for 30 minutes! I could have gone more but didn't want to overdo it. I am really starting to enjoy running. I wish I would have been paying closer attention to my distance because I ended up running about 1.92 miles, just another minute and I would have run 2 miles.

I also did Level2 of the 30 Day Shred. The plank moves are still kicking my butt, even modified. This was my 5th day at this level.

Diet and water were not the greatest yesterday. I only drank 44oz of water and I didn't count points and definitely overate. I am glad I weighed in yesterday because today I am probably back up a bit. We have another wedding today so I will have to wait until tomorrow to get back on track.

Speaking of weighing in... 228.2 yesterday! That is a loss of 2.6 pounds for the week! I am so glad to be in the 220s :)

People are starting to notice

Last night at work I had 3 people mention my weight loss. They all said I looked good and asked how much I've lost. When I tell them 32 pounds I get strange responses. One girl said I am wasting away. Really? I am still well over 200 pounds, there is no wasting away here. I'd have to lose over 100 more pounds to be wasting away. Another girl, when I told her I wanted to lose at least 50 more pounds, said I would be way too thin if I lost that much. Um, no. If I only lose 50 more pounds I will still have a BMI over 30, I will be around 180 pounds at 5'4". I will still be technically obese.

I am one of the largest girls where I work. I think these girls just don't realize how much I really need to lose. To them, 32 pounds seems like a lot, but when you ultimately want to lose close to 100 pounds its not that much. I know most of them couldn't imagine losing 100 pounds so it probably seems crazy to them. They are thinking of the number, and not comparing it to the overall picture.

I am proud of my weight loss so far, but that doesn't mean I don't still have a really long way to go!

Success!!

Still on track today! I drank 88 oz of water yesterday and so far today have already drank 64oz. I stayed exactly within my points yesterday and am on track to do the same today.

When I got home from work I did 30 Day Shred Level 2 Day 3. The plank moves are still killer. I ended up modifying them by doing the plank with my arms on our coffee table instead so I could do the rest of the move more effectively. Those are hard!! The only other move I modify is the double jump ropes, I still have to do singles. I still am liking Level 3 better.  I'm not as sore today, which is good.

When I woke up this afternoon I did C25K Week 7. I am going to count it as Day 2, even though I didn't technically finish Day 1. I was able to do the entire workout today and I even ran for an extra minute for a total of 26 minutes of running. I wanted to get to 1 2/3 miles total which is why I kept going. Total distance ran was 1.68 miles, at 3.7mph. Total workout was 2.13 miles. I am so proud of myself! I think I should have no problem moving on to week 8 even though I didn't complete the first day of week 7 because today I felt like I could have kept going. The last 5 minutes were killer, but I pushed through and then I almost didn't want to stop!

The best news of the day... my weight was 228.6! The lowest its been in years! I am trying not to get my hopes up, since I won't officially weigh in for a few more days and last week that didn't work out so well for me. It just really nice to see that number though. The summer before our wedding I got down to 229 and that was my lowest in years then. To pass that up will be amazing :)

I love the feel of a good workout!

I did the 30 Day Shred Levels two and one again today. I am really liking level two more but it is kicking my butt! The plank moves are killer and I have to modify them all. I can't imagine being able to do them the normal way, even after ten days of it. I can definitely feel it in my arms. I am using my 3lb weights for circuits 1 and 3, and my 5lb weights for circuit 2. In level one I am using my 5lb weights for everything except circuit 1. Tomorrow I plan to do Level 2 in the morning when I get off work and attempt Week 7 of C25K again in the afternoon before work. I will slow down this time and probably run at 3.7mph again to see if I can make it through the whole thing this time.

I have my meals planned out of the rest of the day and will hit my exact number of points for the day. I also have my meals planned out for the rest of the week through Friday. I am doing well with my water intake so far today as well. So far today is going great! I am hoping to hit a one pound weight loss this week. I would love more but I think since I did poorly over the weekend I can't expect that. One pound will put me in the 220s!

C25K Fail

I failed. I had the best of intentions. I was going to do Week 7 Day 1 of C25K tonight before bed. I tried my hardest and was not able to make it through. I was running at 4.0 mph, which is fast for me, and was probably a mistake considering I haven't run since last Tuesday (almost a week!) I did the 5 minute warm up at 2.8 like I usually do, then started in at 4.0 mph. I made it 16 minutes and had to take a minute walking break. I tried to start back up and was only able to do 3 more minutes of running. I ran for a total of 19 minutes, which is 6 minutes short of what I was supposed to. I suppose I should be happy I was able to run 19 minutes, but I hate that I couldn't finish. Especially considering I ran 25 minutes last Tuesday and it was pretty easy. I will try again either tomorrow before work or Weds before work, along with the 30DS in the mornings. I really want to complete the program before our vacation and we leave 3 weeks from Weds.

You know what though? I ran for 19 minutes today and did 40 minutes of 30 Day Shred. That is something to be proud of. And next time I will make it through the whole thing.

Moving on to Level 2!

I'm talking about the 30 Day Shred, of course! Even though I missed a few days, today would have been the day I moved on to Level 2. I missed 3 days of Level 1, the day my shoulder was too sore, and both days this weekend. Today I decided to pull a double, I did both Level 1 and Level 2. I did have to take a few small breaks during Level 2 but I think that was just because I did the two back to back. I think I will like Level 2 better. I did have to modify all the cardio that involved the plank, those were hard!

Tonight I plan to do Week 7 of C25K after my husband goes to work. Tomorrow I will try to do both Level 1 and Level 2 of 30DS again as long as I am not too sore (maybe one in the morning and one in the afternoon). Then I am back to work for 3 nights in a row so my workouts will most likely be 30DS only.

I haven't counted points so far today so I just plan to have a sensible supper and start over with point counting tomorrow. We are grilling steaks and corn on the cob. We are also having cantelope with it.

Not so great weekend

I didn't do so well this weekend. Saturday was my "free" day, the day to not count points and we went out to eat. I ended up not having time to exercise either. Sunday I was simply too lazy to exercise and didn't count points either. The husband suggested we go out to eat so I probably would have gone over my points by a lot.

I am trying to get back on track today. I feel like a broken record. On track one day, mess up the next, getting back on track, etc. I need to get serious about this and do better! I am so sick of falling off the wagon all the time! I'm not sure what is wrong with me. All I know is this is hard.

I think I will try to take tonight and plan out my meals for the rest of the week. If I have everything written out then maybe I will do better at staying on track. I already have my workouts mapped out, the 30DS and C25K, but I am slightly behind since I didn't exercise all weekend.  I also think I am going to change my weigh in to Saturdays, since that is usually my "free" day and that way I have the whole rest of the week to make up for it.

Weigh in

I weighed in at 230.8, which is a loss of only 0.2 pounds this week :( I guess any loss is a loss but I was expecting more. I am wondering if it has anything to do with the fact that I haven't drank much water at all in the past 24 hours. I am working on getting enough water in the rest of the night so hopefully that will help. I also used 8 weekly points today, so that probably impacted my weight as well. I need to start eating better around weigh ins!

I did 30DS today, day 7 of level one. I think I will only do 9 days of level one since I missed one day so I can keep on track to finish in 30 days. We'll see how I feel on day 9!

Still sore

My shoulder and neck are still pretty sore today, but nothing like yesterday. I was able to do the 30 Day Shred today. Now I am off to work, hopefully I can make it through the whole night! Last night was rough, I really should have taken a sick day.

I don't know if my mind is playing tricks on me, but I feel like my scrub pants are getting looser from the past week or so. I can't wait until the end of the month to do my measurements and see how well the 30DS has worked for me! Tomorrow I plan to do 30DS again and Saturday its 30DS and starting week 7 of C25K! Hopefully my shoulder cooperates and I am able to do well.

I've done well with my diet today, I am ending the day with 2 daily points left. I also have drank 68 oz of water, not too bad.

Tomorrow is weigh in day, wish me luck! I am hoping to be down 1-2 pounds but we will see. TMI - I've been kind of backed up the past couple days so that might have a negative impact on my weigh in, lol.

Pulled Muscle

Now I am really starting to think I pulled a muscle in my shoulder instead of sleeping on it wrong. It hurts the same as when I pulled a muscle in my back in Feb. It hurts behind my scapula and radiates all the way up the side of my neck. I feel okay if I am just sitting or just standing but any kind of movement kills. I have to work tonight and cannot afford to use any PTO taking a sick day since we have vacation next month. I am having them put me in the nursery rather than on the floor (I am a postpartum nurse) so hopefully I will be able to make it through the night.

It probably wasn't such a good idea working out last night with my sore shoulder, I probably just made it worse. I definitely am not working out today. I have some Vicodin left over from when I hurt my back and am trying some more Aleve and ice as well. Hopefully it helps!

I don't really want to go to the doctor because I am pretty sure its just a pulled muscle like last time and they will just give me pain meds and make me stay home from work. I probably should set up an appointment to talk to my doctor about maybe getting on some muscle relaxers to this stops happening.

I am so disappointed that I can't exercise today. I was doing so well. I'm praying I feel better by tomorrow so I can exercise. At the very least I should be able to walk on the treadmill, but hopefully I can do the 30 Day Shred so I can stay on track.

Losing a point

I know today isn't my official weigh in day and things might change by Friday, but I just weighed myself at 229.8! This puts me down to 31 points a day (remember, I am doing the old points system). Sad to lose a point but so freaking excited to be in another decade! Hoping it stays that way for Friday. This is especially impressive considering AF also arrived today.

I am so glad to finally start seeing some movement. I feel like for the past couple months I have been losing and gaining the same few pounds.

Won't be doing that again!

I was able to get my workouts in for Tuesday. Technically I did them after midnight but I am still counting them for Tuesday since I will be going back to bed in a bit and will be working out this evening before work. My workout was C25K Week 6 Day 3 and 30DS Level 1 Day 5. On previous days where I did both workouts in the same day, I started with 30DS and ended with C25K. I found the 30DS left my calves sore, making C25K a struggle. This time, since I am at the point in C25K that I am doing all running and no walking, I knew I needed to be at my best.

I decided to start with C25K and it went really well! I ran at 3.7, which is slightly slower than I normally run, to ensure I could make it through the whole 25 minutes. Honestly, I was impressed. I can't believe I ran 25 minutes! And it didn't get tough until the last 5 minutes or so, but even then it wasn't so bad. It ended up being about 1.6 miles of running. Now each week will be strictly running for the next 3 weeks.

I decided to go right into the 30DS to get it done with and that was a mistake! I was so wore out from running I really struggled. It was my 5th day at level one so it should not have been that difficult. I ended up having to modify one set of jumping jacks, one set of jump ropes, and the last set of abs. I also used my 3 pound weights for the anterior lifts at the end, when I had been using 5 pound weights for them. I made it through the whole workout but it was definitely hard. On the days where I do both workouts I think I need to do one in the morning and one in the evening in order to do my best.

As far as diet yesterday, I earned 7 activity points and used 6. I am glad I haven't used any weekly points yet, and today as long as I stay on track I will be 4 points below my daily limit. I drank 60 oz of water yesterday, not my best but I fell asleep early. So far this morning I have drank 48 oz so I should have no problems getting enough in today.

I also think I slept wrong, because my right shoulder is very sore. I am not sure if it is from working out or if I slept wrong, but I didn't feel it hurting during any of the strength moves so I am leaning towards slept on it wrong. Right now I am icing it and I took some Aleve and Excedrin and am going to try and go back to bed since I work overnight tonight.

Some things I've noticed

- The 30 Day Shred, while still challenging for me, has been much easier this time than in the past. I can do the entire workout without stopping and am only modifying the pushups. I take this as a sign my fitness level is improving!

- It is much easier to get enough water in when I drink through a straw

- Running 10 minutes straight has become relatively easy

- I eat out of boredom more than anything else. Definitely something I need to work on.

- I've reached the point of no more walking intervals in the C25K and it scares me! But at the same time I cannot believe I have made it this far

- I am so mad at myself for not taking progress photos and measurements at the beginning of my weight loss, I have a hard time feeling like a have made any progress some days. I know having lost 30 pounds I must look a little different, but I just don't see it

Exercise success and diet fail

Monday I did great as far as exercising. I did 30DS Level One, C25K Week 6 Day 2, and my husband and I took our dog for a 30 minute walk. I also got 72 oz of water in so not too bad with that as well. However, I went completely overboard with my diet! I would have been fine but I binged on chocolate chip cookies. I don't even want to admit how many I ate but I will to be accountable for my actions. I ate 10 cookies. 10! What kind of fat ass eats 10 cookies in a day?! Apparently this fat ass.

I am so disappointed with myself but I am choosing to move on and not dwell on it. I am proud of myself for counting all my points though, even though I went over. I used up all my activity points. I didn't want to use any of those points this week since I ate so poorly over the weekend. I just need to do better the remainder of the week. I have today off and then I am back to work which will make it easier to stick to my diet. I definitely tend to overeat more on the days I don't work, probably due to boredom.

Holidays are tough!

I am having a hard time sticking to my diet today! We are making so much good food for the holiday that counting points went right out the window. I know I have to get back on track tomorrow so we will be sending any leftover goodies home with my parents to get them out of the house.

I am doing well with my water intake, 48 oz so far and its still early! I made homemade lemonade for tonight but I made a small batch so I will still be drinking some water too.

I really did not want to exercise today. I have been in major cleaning mood and baking and preparing food since 9am. I told myself I could just do it tomorrow or do it later. But I know I won't do it later. We will be up to watch the fireworks and then I will probably go to bed since I've been up since 7am (which is extremely early for this night shifter!). So I bit the bullet and did the 30DS. Its only 20 minutes of my day, I don't know why I resist so much. I've spent more time today goofing off on the computer. I am just lazy!

I have to shower and get ready for my parents to get here soon, so I won't be able to fit C25K in today. If I don't get it in tonight, that will be okay because I gave myself some extra days in my workout plan, so I won't fall behind. (I work 12 hour shifts, 3 days in a row and don't want to do 2 workouts on those days, so each week I have a 3 day stretch of only 30DS, so I can get a day or so off with C25K and still be able to make it up. Just means less sleep for me!). I will try to do it tonight after the fireworks but like I said, I might be too tired.

Day two was a bit more difficult

Day one of the 30DS was relatively easy, but today when I did day two I struggled! I think my muscles were still fatigued from yesterday. I was able to do the entire workout but it was tough. I ended up doing my workout in the bedroom since the husband was sleeping in the living room. Its a good thing I did because I am in no mood to exercise now that we are home. I'm ready for bed!

Like I mentioned before, today we were out of town at a wedding so I was unable to count points. I plan to assume I used most of my weekly points and try not to use any of them the rest of the week. I also know I did not drink enough water today. Back on track tomorrow though! We are having my parents over and grilling out but I plan to calculate my points and calories for everything I make.

Tomorrow I plan to do C25K and 30DS, but we also have to deep clean the house before company comes over so if I only have time for one I will do 30DS and do both on Monday. We bought a ton of fruits when we went grocery shopping this week so I plan to try some smoothies to incorporate more fruits in my life.

I hope everyone has a great 4th! We will be grilling steaks, corn on the cob, and I am making baked macaroni and cheese (don't worry, I will only have a small helping!) I also plan to make Oreo cupcakes. We plan to hang out on our back patio and watch fireworks (we have a great view from our backyard).

Weigh In

Sorry I forgot to post my weigh in yesterday. I weighed 231.0, for a loss of 2 pounds for the week. Since June 1, I have lost 5.6 pounds. Not too bad!

My first day of July went well. I drank 72 oz of water for the day. I ate exactly my number of points for the day and the calorie count was 1483 for the day. I even deviated from the plan since we didn't have time to make supper and went to the drive through, and was still able to stay on point.

I did the 30 Day Shred level 1 and C25K week 6 day 1 yesterday as well. I have mapped out all my workouts for the month of July and I am challenging myself to finish C25K and do the 30DS for 30 days straight. I have never made it past level one of the shred so it will be interesting to see how I do.

I did struggle with C25K yesterday though. I think because I haven't done it in a week and since I did it after the 30DS. Maybe on the days I do both I need to do C25K first. Week 6 day 1 is 5 minutes running, 3 minutes walking, 8 minutes running, 3 minutes walking, 5 minutes running.  I did the first run at 4.0mph, the second run at 4.1mph, and the last run at 3.9mph. All walking was done at 2.8mph.

The 30 Day shred level one is pretty tough for me still. It is a 20 minute workout but it is intense for a beginner! I use my 3 and 5 pound weights throughout level one. I only use the 3 pounders for the overhead presses. My shoulders are weak. Everything else I do with the 5 pounds. The bicep curls I could do with more but I don't have anything bigger. I was able to do the majority of the workout without modifications too. I made it through all the jumping jacks, which I usually can't do! The cardio part I struggle with is the jump ropes. I can do one set, but the second set my calves burn too much so I modify them by doing alternating legs rather than both at once. I also have to do the girly push ups.

The husband and I are heading to a wedding out of town today, so I won't be able to count points. I am not sure when I will get my workout in. Right now my husband is sleeping in our living room which is the only room with enough room to exercise in. I might have to exercise after the wedding tonight.

Also, a NSV (non scale victory) - I bought a couple dresses from LB last week for our Vegas vacation and for some weddings we have this summer, and I bought size 14/16 which is the smallest size they make. And they are both slightly loose! Soon I will be able to buy dresses in the regular stores! I do wear a smaller dress size than pants size though, I am in size 18 pant still. I cannot wait until I can buy regular clothes!

New Motivation

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that my great grandmother passed away. I had always known that I would be getting some money when she passed away, but we all thought it would be a few thousand tops for us great grandchildren. My mom just informed me today that it was a lot more than we all thought. I'm getting more than I make in a year in 5 savings bonds. I am completely shocked!

 We had already decided to use whatever we get to put toward IVF, well now we will only need to cash in one of the savings bonds to have enough to do IVF. Therefore that is my new motivation! I want to lose at least 30 more pounds (be below 200) but preferably closer to 50 more pounds before we do IVF. However, I would also like to be able to do IVF by the end of 2011.

That will give me about 5 months before we would have to start the process. 30-50 pounds in 5 months is completely attainable if I put my nose to the grindstone. I bought a monthly calendar and am going to plot out my exercise plan and track my daily weights so I have something I can easily look at. I also think I am going to spend the next week tracking calories along with points, to see how much I am really taking in. I want to see if counting calories might be a better system for me than counting points. I am pretty good about sticking within my points but I don't eat the most healthy food.

I am really hoping having a concrete goal will help me do better. I need to do this!!

Been slacking on posting!

Sorry I have been such a slacker updating my blog. Work has been crazy busy and I am mentally and physically exhausted from it and have been sleeping as much as I can. I haven't exercised since last Tuesday when I finished week 5 of C25K again. I am now off work until next Wednesday so I am hoping to get back on track. I have been counting my points but I did go over a bit last week. This week I am doing well so far but my mom wants to go out to eat tomorrow and we have a wedding on Saturday and its a holiday weekend, so I am not sure it will stay that way.

I really need to work on updating this blog more often as well. I find that I do better with my diet and exercise when I have to hold myself accountable on here. Only a little over a month until Vegas and I would really like to be down 10 more pounds by then. I really need to buckle down here!

Weigh In

I bit the bullet and decided to weigh in despite my binge last night. I felt too guilty not to. The damage wasn't too bad, I weighed 233.0, which is a 1 pound gain. I also posted my measurements, most of which went down slightly and I lost 5.8 pounds this month. Not too bad considering last month I didn't lose anything. My husband just left for work so I will do C25K week 6 day 1 in a little while.

Overdid it

I wish I could say I overdid it with exercise or drank too much water, but that's not it. I overate. I ended up falling back asleep last evening after supper (night shift really messes with your sleep schedule) and slept until almost midnight. So not only did I not get my workout in for the night, I ended up eating. I had a couple cookies and some mini candy bars.

I ended up using 10 of my weekly points yesterday. Then today since I am still up I made some comfort food, baked macaroni and cheese, and ate way too much. I've left myself with only 2 points left for Friday, and the day has barely started. I will have to use more weekly points just to eat supper tonight. I think I will plan a light supper to make up for it. I plan to go to bed within the next couple hours so supper is the only meal I should need to eat today, and maybe a snack.

I am worried about how this will affect my weigh in today. I was planning to weigh in when I wake up later, and I still will check my weight, but I might save my official weigh in until Saturday. I really should just accept whatever I get when I wake up as my punishment, but I will have to see.

I have such a hard time staying on plan the nights I don't work. I really need to figure out something that will work for me to keep me on track. I get so bored and eat. There is not a lot to do in the middle of the night when everyone else you know is sleeping!

Busy week!

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while, it has been a busy week. I was out of town all weekend for funeral stuff and visiting family. Because of that I was unable to count points or work out all weekend. The rest of this week I have been doing well, counting my points every day and I have been under my points all week so far. As far as working out, I only was able to get one day in so far, although I plan to work out later tonight after my husband goes to work. Work has been so busy I have pretty much been working and sleeping, no time for anything else.

I did C25K week 5 day 3 again on Tuesday, which was the 20 minute run. I haven't done that since the beginning of March. I was impressed I was actually able to do the whole thing without stopping. I even ran 0.2 mph faster than I did last time I did it. It is such a great feeling to be able to run 20 minutes without stopping. I honestly thought I would never be able to do it. Tonight I will start week 6 again and will be back to where I was before I stopped last month.

One thing I haven't done so well with this week is drinking water. I haven't been drinking anything besides water, I just have been so busy I haven't drank much period. I am worried this will show on the scale. Tomorrow I will weigh in officially, but so far this week I haven't lost any weight.

This weekend I will set new goals for myself after I see how this week ends up. I never really made any goals for this week since I had so much going on. I have a friend's wedding this weekend and we are celebrating my dad's birthday, so it will be another busy weekend. I know I will have a hard time counting points those days so I am just going to work on portion control and save all my weekly points because there will be drinking :)

I also am going to work on an exercising schedule for next week. I think if I have it planned out what I will do each day it will be easier to commit to it. I love working out, but when I am busy its one of the first things I cut out and I need to make it more of a priority.

I'll check back tomorrow with my weigh in and the plan for next week!

Quick Update and Weigh In

Just a quick update before I head out of town. Yesterday I did week 5 day 2 C25K, walking 2.8 and running 3.9. Its amazing how hard it has been getting back into this! I lost so much just taking those few weeks off. I was able to do the whole thing though though.

I drank 96 oz of water yesterday and the day before. I counted all of my points for both days. I met all my goals for the week except one: losing 2 pounds. My weight was 232.0 for my official weigh in. Its my own fault, I overate the night before the weigh in, probably the worst time to eat poorly! I did stay within my points but I used them all and all of my activity points. So this week was a loss of 1.4 pounds.

Getting back into running

Last night I did week 5 day 1 of C25K. This is back a week from where I left off but since I haven't done it regularly in a month and a half I find I am needing to backtrack a little. I walked at 2.8mph and ran at 3.8mph. Today after my regular workout I decided to run for 10 minutes at 3.8mph. I was able to do it without stopping but I sure wanted to! I am slowly getting back to where I was. I can't believe I was able to do 20 minutes last month without stopping. It seems impossible again. Tomorrow I will do week 5 again, either repeating day 1 or doing day 2, we will see how I feel.

The rest of my workout was the Self's Bikini Body Ready Dvd, so I got 25 minutes of weights and cardio in. I have already drank my 80oz water for the day and I still have to go to work where I usually get at least 20 oz in my midnight so I'm doing great with that today! I have tracked all my points and went over a few, using up all my activity points I earned today. I really think I need to start eating more low or no point foods to help fill myself up more so I stop overeating. Technically I haven't gone over what I am allowed, but I don't like using all my weekly points and I really don't like using my activity points. I think that will be a goal for next week.

Tomorrow I will weigh in and see if I met my goal of losing 2 pounds this week. Today my weight was 231.8, which is a 1.6 pound loss so hopefully tomorrow it will be down just a little more.

Just Dance

I rented Just Dance for the Wii today, I am excited to try it out. I am hoping it will be fun and also a little bit of a workout too.

I have met all my goals for the day. So far my workout has been a 35 minute walk with my dog and my husband. I am planning on doing C25K tonight after my husband goes to work. I also might try Just Dance tonight.

My great grandmother passed away today. She was 100 years old. I will be out of town for the funeral in a couple days so I might not be posting much the next few days.

Another day in the books

Tuesday was a decent day. I drank exactly 80 oz of water. I counted all my points. I did end up going over and using the rest of my weekly points and a couple activity points as well, and I never use those. I definitely need to show more self control when we go out to eat like on Monday. Going overboard that one day is giving me pretty much no room for error the rest of the week.

As far as exercise, I did a new dvd tonight (well, I've had it for a while but its never been opened. Its The Firm Ultimate Fat Burning Workout. Total workout was about 35 minutes not including the cool down. I have to say, it was pretty intense for me! I had a harder time with this than I do with Jillian's dvds. Some of the moves were a bit complicated for me but for the most part I enjoyed the workout and will definitely do it again.

All goals for today met, woot! Now I am just hoping my restaurant binge on Monday doesn't mess up my weight loss for the week.

Monday's progress

I did okay today with my goals. I counted all my points for the day. I exercised 45 minutes. I am already down some weight for the week so I am on my way to the two pound weight loss I want. My only goal I didn't meet today was my water intake. I only drank 52 oz today. I already have my 32oz bottle filled up for the day so I can get a start on Tuesday's water intake.

For my workout I ended up doing Self's Bikini Body Ready dvd. It is a combination of cardio and weights. The workout is about 25 minutes long so I also did 3 circuits from Jillian's Banish Fat Boost Metabolism dvd. I did circuits 1, 3, and 5. Total workout time was 45 minutes. I didn't exercise on Sunday so I need to do well the rest of the week with my workouts.

Changing things around

I've decided to make my goals weekly instead of monthly. It is too hard for me to keep track for the whole month at a time. I started my week over yesterday so this week will be a day short but I am posting my goals for today through Saturday June 18.

Goals for June 13-June 18:
1-Drink at least 80 oz of water daily
2-Exercise at least 5 days a week for no less than 30 minutes at a time
3-Count points at least 6 days
4-Lose 2 pounds

As for today, I am not sure that I will get all my water in, I have only had 36 oz so far and its almost midnight. I will try to drink another 32 oz before then though. I haven't exercised yet but plan on doing a workout dvd after I am done with this post. Not sure which one yet, I might pull out one I haven't done in a while to mix things up. I have counted all my points for today. We ended up going out to Chili's for supper and had appetizers and dessert with our meal, so I used almost all my weekly points for the week. I feel stuffed! I should have had half of my dessert or none at all. I need to be careful the rest of the week because I only have 2 weekly points left until Sunday.

My weight today was 231.0! This puts me at 31 pounds lost. I am sure my eating today will affect that but for now I have lost 31 pounds and met my goal of 30 pounds lost. Its taken me 5 1/2 months to lose 30 pounds, which is around 5-6 pounds a month average. Not too bad, but could be better. I'd like to lose 10-15 more before our vacation the first week of August. That gives me 7 weeks. I think I can do it!

NSV and a goal met!

Two great things happened today.

First, the non-scale victory (NSV): I bought a diet soda as a treat, my husband and I have given up all soda in the past couple weeks. I took a few drinks and didn't even want it! I used to CRAVE soda and now I can't even finish one. Looks like more water for me :)

Second, the goal met: I am now at a BMI below 40! Granted, its only 39.9 but it still counts! My BMI is down 5.1 points since I started losing weight. Ultimately I want to be below 30 but our infertility doctor wants me to be low 40 for IVF so I am so glad to hit this number. (Although currently my husband and I are considering doing something different, IVF will probably still be in the future once we can afford it).

I also am fitting very comfortably into my size 18 jeans, which were tight when I bought them.

Friday's Weigh In

I've been so busy this weekend I didn't get a chance to post my official weigh in on Friday! My weight was 233.4, for a loss of 3.2 pounds for the week!  Only 1.4 pounds until I hit 30! Its good to be getting back on track. I didn't exercise on Friday though, unfortunately.

Yesterday was spent at the amusement park so tons of walking for my exercise. We are lunch there and I had 2 chicken strips and half of my fries. Then supper was a meal out so I splurged on pasta, but this is what I had saved most of my weekly points for. I wasn't able to really count points due to eating out, but I am going to assume I used up all my points for the day and all my weeklies.

Today I slept way too long and haven't really eaten yet. I need to go get groceries but I am being lazy. I am not sure what I will do for my workout tonight, either Biggest Loser or C25K most likely. My mom got me a dvd of yoga for the neck and shoulders, I am hoping it helps with my headache issues, so I might give that a try tonight as well.

Might have overdone it?

I either slept funny yesterday or I overdid it with bootcamp yesterday, because my lower back has been killing me all day. I am going to walk on the treadmill for a workout instead of doing C25K today. I might try to do some short running intervals depending on how I feel. My goal will be to do C25K again tomorrow.

I drank 90 oz water yesterday so I met that goal again. The only bad thing about drinking all this water is that I need to pee all the time! I have tracked my points today and will have 2 leftover after I eat supper. I might have a mini ice cream bar for 2 points for desert to break even :)

Feeling it!

Boy am I feeling it today! That run yesterday apparently was quite the workout for me. Today I did the Biggest Loser Bootcamp and I could barely make it through the whole workout. But I did! Tomorrow I am hoping to do C25K again, although I might repeat day one of week six until I get used to it again. We will see how I feel tomorrow.

I counted points all day and will have 4 points leftover for the day. I had to leave work early last night due to a migraine and so I didn't eat my lunch at work, which is why I am short. **edit** I counted wrong, I had my meal that I had planned to eat for lunch included. So I actually have 8 points leftover for the day

Yesterday I drank 96 oz of water! I found a water bottle that is 32 oz which makes it easier to get all my water in and easier to keep track.

My weight today was 234.0, which would put me at at 28 pound weight loss so far! Only 4 more pounds and I will be able to say goodbye to the 230s! I still will wait to officially weigh in until Friday, but hopefully it stays the same (or decreases).

Saturday we are going to an amusement park, so I won't be able to count points that day so I think I will use it as a free day. I am going to try and save all my weekly points to try and make up for that

Not as bad as I thought

I decided to weigh myself today to check out the damage. I did weigh myself after my workout, so it is probably off a little, but it was 234.4! That is down 2.2 pounds since last Weds! I don't believe it, and will officially weigh in on Friday but that would be amazing if it is true, that would mean I didn't do as badly this weekend as I thought.

Today I started back with the C25K. I did week 6 day 1 again, I was able to do it all the way through without stopping but it was HARD. I ran at 3.8 mph and walked at 2.8 mph. I also have been counting my points today. I have 10 points left for the day and I think it will stay that way. I am off to work and won't get a chance to eat again until after midnight. I always have a hard time getting all my points in the day before my first night back to work because I eat in the morning and before I go to work and that's it because I am trying to sleep. I have had 40 oz water so far today so I am hoping to get the rest in at work.

ABCDEFood

Several of the food blogs I follow have done this survey lately, so I figured I would jump on the bandwagon because I love surveys :)

A: is for Apple, what's your favorite variety?

Fuji apples, love them!

B: is for Bread, regardless of nutrition, calories, or whole grains what is your favorite type to have a nice big piece of?

I am a sucker for white bread, I love the bread at the Machine Shed restaurant here in the city.

C: is for Cereal what is your favorite kind currently (just one!)

Product 19. Most people have never even heard of it and its hard to find around here but I grew up eating it and I love it. I have a bowl for breakfast several times a week.

D: is for Doughnuts, you might not currently be eating them but what kind do you fancy?

Glazed. I will occasionally fit one in to my points for the day because I love them so much

E: is for Eggs, how would you like yours prepared?

The only way I eat eggs is scrambled with cheese

F: is for Fat Free, what is your favorite fat free product?

The only fat free product I usually eat is pudding cups

G: is for Groceries, where do you purchase yours at?

HyVee. I know a lot of things are less expensive elsewhere but it is close to my house and clean and I don't want to have to shop at more than one place

H: is for Hot Beverages, what is your favorite hot drink?

Hot chocolate, yummy!

I: is for Ice Cream, pick a favorite flavor and add a fun topping.

I usually only ever eat cookies and cream or chocolate with m&ms. Usually if I get ice cream I get a chocolate shake

J: is for Jams or Jellies, do you eat them, and if so what kind and flavor?

Grape jelly occasionally

K: is for Kashi, name your favorite Kashi product?

I have never had a Kashi product

L: is for Lunch, what was yours today?

I didn't eat lunch, we had a late breakfast and an early supper.
 

M: is for microwave, what is your favorite microwave meal/snack?

I don't really make any snack in the microwave, I only use it for reheating food

N: is for nutrients, do you like carbs, fats, or proteins best?

That is a tough one! I love my carbs (bread, pasta, potatoes) but I also love fats (chocolate and cheese)

O: is for oil, what kind do you like to use?

I rarely ever use oil, if I do I think we have canola oil and EVOO

P: is for protein, how do you get yours?

Chicken, steak, pork chops, cottage cheese, peanut butter

Q: is for Quaker, how do you like your oats?

I hate oats, its a texture thing

R: is for roasting, what is your favorite thing to roast?

Potatoes

S: is for sandwich, what’s your favorite kind?

Peanut butter. I am not a huge sandwich fan

T: is for travel, how do you handle eating while traveling?

I tend to eat whatever I want when traveling. I don't like to diet while on vacation. Good food is part of the experience! Then damage control when I get back, lol

U: is for unique, what is one of your weirdest food combos?

I like peanut butter and honey on my toast which some people find weird. I also like my mashed potatoes plain with nothing on them, which is probably weird

V: is for vitamins, what kind do you take?

I try to take a multi-vitamin daily, but I am forgetful

W: is for wasabi, yay or nay? 

Nay

X: is for X-RAY. If we x-rayed your belly right now, what food would we see?

Some club crackers and cheese I had for a snack tonight

Y: is for youth, what food reminds you of your childhood?

Cream of wheat made with soy milk, I am lactose intolerant (though I will eat dairy now, but it sometimes still makes me sick afterward) so I always had to have soy milk. I remember really liking it but haven't had it as an adult

Z: is for zucchini, how do you prepare it?

I have never tried it, I am extremely picky and really need to branch out!

I'm back!

I'm back from camping and so I will be back on track with my diet tomorrow. I am hoping to get some exercise in tonight if my headache gets better. I have had a headache for about a week and a half now and nothing will make it go away. I traded at work so now I have tonight off and will work Thursday night instead, thank goodness because I really don't want to work with my head feeling like this. My stomach is also a little upset from eating badly all weekend. I will probably weigh myself in the morning to check out the damage but won't officially weigh in until Friday.

I had kind of a wake up call this weekend. We went camping with my family, including my older sister and her family. Growing up, I was always thin and she was overweight. I have always thought she was bigger than me. She is a few inches taller as well. She recently started losing weight and I think has lost about 20 pounds (I have lost about 25 pounds). While we were camping she mentioned how none of her clothes fit because they are too loose. My shorts I was wearing were a size 20 and she asked to try them on. I thought for sure they wouldn't fit, but they did. They were maybe slightly tighter on her than me but they still fit. So now I am as fat as my sister, who has always been the fat one. How depressing. I will freak out if she starts losing weight faster than me. This might be the kick in the butt I need!

One day down

I did pretty good yesterday. I counted my points and ended up with 2 points to spare for the day. I exercised 65 minutes. I was only able to get 68 oz of water in because I was busy at work, but considering that I didn't start until about 3pm I figure that was pretty good.

I started my period today so I am feeling kind of bloated. I also have a horrible headache that I cannot get rid of. My husband and I are going to take our dog for a 30 minute walk in a few minutes and I think that will be my workout for the day since my head is killing me. I still have to make supper but I should end up with 3 points left for the day.

I think I am going to struggle with getting 80 oz of water in daily. I've only had 14 oz in so far today, so I have a long way to go in the next 9 hours. Hopefully I can come close!

Tomorrow afternoon we leave for camping and won't be back until Sunday so I probably won't be able to update again until Sunday. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Above and beyond

Just need to update with my workout. Not only did I do the Biggest Loser low impact cardio and the strength workouts, I also did the Biggest Loser bootcamp workout on my dvd. For a total workout time of 65 minutes! I am so proud of myself. Hopefully I am not too sore tomorrow! I also counted my points all day and have two points left. I won't be eating them though because I am on my way to work and won't get a break until after midnight so those will be tomorrow's points. So far I have drank 40 oz of water and I am sure I can easily get another 40 oz in at work before midnight. Back on track today! Woot!

Getting back on track and goals for June

Since Friday when I decided to get back on track I have tracked my points all but two days. I have not exercised besides walking the dog, but once I get supper in the oven tonight I plan to do the Biggest Loser low impact cardio and the strength exercises before work tonight. I have tomorrow's meals planned out so that will mean I only was off two days for the week, which is much better than I have been. Especially considering I usually take one day off a week. My weight back down a little today but I won't officially weigh in until Friday.

We are going camping with my parents this weekend so it will be hard to count points Friday through Sunday. I am just going to try and watch my portions and not overeat the snack foods (that is my weakness while camping, snacking!). My mom always likes to go on walks while we are camping so I will probably be able to get some exercise in as long as the weather is nice.

Since it is the beginning of the month, I think I will come up with some goals for the month.
1- Exercise at least 20 days this month
2- Get below 230 pounds
3- Drink at least 80 oz water daily
4- Resume C25K, even if I have to go back a week or two
5- Track points 5-6 days a week

I am also going to try and update my blog more often. When I have to be held accountable to this blog, I seem to do better. Here's hoping this month is better than last month!

WTF is wrong with me?

I think I'm on the verge of a nervous breakdown. I keep crying or tearing up today. I just feel overwhelmingly sad and I have no idea why. I really think I need to see a therapist but I can't get the nerve up to do it. Its going to be a long night.

The numbers don't lie

I posted my measurements and I lost very little in terms of inches or weight this month. I am so disappointed in myself. I did take my dog for a 25 minute walk with my husband so at least I did something today but I need to do more. I planned out my diet for tomorrow and I am 8 points short for the day. I think I will keep it that way to try and make up a little for the past few days. I feel so gross right now. I can't believe I let things get so out of hand again.

Why do I always do this?

I am failing. I haven't exercised regularly in probably at least 3 weeks and my diet/points tracking has been very sporadic, maybe one or two days a week. Since our party last Saturday I haven't counted points at all and have been doing some serious over eating. I decided to weigh myself today to try and scare myself into getting back on track: 238.8 (a 3.4 pound gain!!). And even that didn't help, I have been eating chips and cookies all day, so I probably weigh much more. If I am not careful I will be back into the 240s and I had hoped they were gone forever.

I have been feeling pretty down lately, I don't know if that is what my problem is but this has got to stop.

I always do this about this point. I had lost almost 30 pounds (~27 pounds this time). The last time I was serious about losing weight was before my wedding, when I lost 29 pounds (I saw 229 on the scale for the first time in a long time). I was so proud to reach that point and then I just gave up. I had gained back at least 10 pounds by my wedding and was lucky I fit into my dress. I am almost to that exact point again and I am giving up again. I hate that I do this. I have such a long way to go I cannot afford to keep doing this to myself.

I work 12 hour shifts the next 4 nights in a row, so I won't have much extra time to overeat. I am throwing away the rest of the leftover junk food from the bbq. I think I will spend the next few hours before I go to work catching up on some weight loss blogs for inspiration. Hopefully my husband and I can take the dog for a walk before we work tonight and I'd like to maybe get a workout in too, but right now my stomach is upset from overeating. I know this sounds awful but right now it would be so nice to be bulimic so I could just get rid of all that junk I just ate. I am having some serious remorse.

I am thinking I need to start planning out my meals and exercise for the week. If I have a written out plan to stick to that might help me keep on track better. Our vacation is in just over two months and I had hoped to be down to 200 or 210 by then, now that is impossible. My new goal is to be down 20 pounds by then. I really need to get back on track if that is to happen.